Erick Erickson's Blog, page 134

Eric Holder's Banana Republic Style Attack on Rupert Murdoch and News Corp

Rupert and James Murdoch were a great tag team yesterday before the Parliamentary inquiry. In fact, I dare say the pie attack coupled with Mrs. Murdoch's response lent sympathy toward the Murdoch clan and ultimately helped Rupert Murdoch take the upper hand in the hearings.

But in this country, Media Matters, the left in general, and the Obama Administration are savoring the possible destruction of News Corp, which they view as an enemy.

It's both sad and funny that the Obama Administration and Democrats are considering stretching the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act relating to bribing foreign officials to try to kill off one of the handful of major news organizations not giving Obama a free, near propagandistic ride like MSNBC does.

But what's so hilariously hypocritical about all of this comes down to Eric Holder and bananas. Nope, not kidding.

Yesterday, I mentioned a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, Michael Gallagher, who had written an 18 page exposé on Chiquita Brands International and its corporate goings on in Central America. The report sourced phone calls leaked to the newspaper that were not obtained legally.

Gannett, the publisher of the paper, was never called before Congress. It's CEO was never attacked the way Murdoch is being attacked. But the left howled over the comparison. They should have waited until today. Because there's more.

The Chiquita banana phone "hacking" was not quite the same as the News of the World stuff. The difference was that Gallagher, the reporter, was actually given the voicemail codes by a Chiquita employee. It's a difference of degree, but a significant degree.

But that's not the real story about the Chiquita banana nonsense. The real story was that the reporter uncovered that Chiquita, with the help of a guy named Eric Holder, was illegally bribing terrorist groups in South America. And Eric Holder used his influence with one Michael Chertoff, then a high-ranking Department of Justice attorney, to make sure the U.S. never charged Chiquita with breaking the law.

And what did the media focus on at the time? The voicemail access, not the explicit and illegal bribes paid to terrorists.

This time, however, it's different. And the left is cheering on Eric Holder's attempt to go after News Corp by stretching a federal law he himself, without stretching, helped a corporation get away with violating and then used influence with the American government to avoid prosecution.

*Link to the Democratic Underground for the bit about Eric Holder was totally intentional.

Now House Republicans Must Fight The Gang of 6′s Gangrene Plan

Think of the Senate "Gang of 6″ Plan as the "Gangrene Plan." It will slowly, but surely, rot away the nation. It was presented yesterday with a few claims:

(1) It was not designed to play a role in the debt ceiling debate;

(2) It was not meant to undercut the House Republicans' "Cut, Cap, and Balance" plan; and,

(3) It would not be a tax increase.

The reality is the opposite of each of those statements. The Gang of 6 plan is intended to play a role in the debt ceiling debate by giving the McConnell-Reid-Pelosi Pontius Pilate Act more life to get passed until the Gangrene Plan can take affect.

They rushed the plan out the door with a coordinating statement of support from the White House to try to stop the momentum toward the Cut, Cap, and Balance Plan.

And they did this all while trying to provide cover for massive, massive tax increases. And the pathetic irony is that while the President wants to use it to give cover to a $2 trillion debt increase this year, the Gangrene Plan would cut only $3.5 trillion in debt over ten years. In other words, the Democrats would foist on us $2 trillion in debt today in exchange for cutting the budget by $3.5 trillion in ten years — assuming Congress and the President agree to all the cut recommendations and excluding interest on the national debt.

The Gangrene Plan was to no avail. The House Republicans, joined by five Democrats, passed Cut, Cap, and Balance last night. The House GOP showed it is in favor of raising the debt ceiling, but only if spending is cut, future spending is capped, and the budget is balanced.

The Senate GOP is furious. They have been undermined. The House GOP stood up for principle.

What's going to happen now is the Senate will tell the House that its plan cannot pass. House Republicans must now continue to hold the freaking line. They must not waiver. They must understand that now that their plan is passed and that it allows the debt ceiling to be raised, the House GOP's hand strengthens every day closer to August 2nd. And if this debacle goes past August 2nd, the House GOP is in charge as long as it holds the freaking line.

As for Mitch McConnell? In addition to his plan being a nonstarter, conservatives have gone to war with him personally. Here is a new ad that is about to launch against McConnell in a full on assault against his Pontius Pilate Plan.

All we need is for House Republicans to hold the line. Or to quote Rep. Allen West, be "steadfast and loyal."

Morning Briefing for July 20, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For July 20, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

1. Now House Republicans Must Fight The Gang of 6?s Gangrene Plan

2. The Fuzzy Math from Gang of Six

3. The President's Spending Cut Prediction was Only Off by 4,000 Billion Dollars.

4. Destroying Rupert Murdoch

5. Solving the NLRB Ambush Election and Card-Check Issues in One Fell Swoop

6. PCCC/Reddit cofounder Aaron Swartz indicted for mail fraud.

———————————————————————-

1. Now House Republicans Must Fight The Gang of 6?s Gangrene Plan

Think of the Senate "Gang of 6? Plan as the "Gangrene Plan." It will slowly, but surely, rot away the nation. It was presented yesterday with a few claims:

(1) It was not designed to play a role in the debt ceiling debate;

(2) It was not meant to undercut the House Republicans' "Cut, Cap, and Balance" plan; and,

(3) It would not be a tax increase.

The reality is the opposite of each of those statements. The Gang of 6 plan is intended to play a role in the debt ceiling debate by giving the McConnell-Reid-Pelosi Pontius Pilate Act more life to get passed until the Gangrene Plan can take affect.

They rushed the plan out the door with a coordinating statement of support from the White House to try to stop the momentum toward the Cut, Cap, and Balance Plan.

And they did this all while trying to provide cover for massive, massive tax increases. And the pathetic irony is that while the President wants to use it to give cover to a $2 trillion debt increase this year, the Gangrene Plan would cut only $3.5 trillion in debt over ten years. In other words, the Democrats would foist on us $2 trillion in debt today in exchange for cutting the budget by $3.5 trillion in ten years — assuming Congress and the President agree to all the cut recommendations and excluding interest on the national debt.

The Gangrene Plan was to no avail. The House Republicans, joined by five Democrats, passed Cut, Cap, and Balance last night. The House GOP showed it is in favor of raising the debt ceiling, but only if spending is cut, future spending is capped, and the budget is balanced.

The Senate GOP is furious. They have been undermined. The House GOP stood up for principle.

What's going to happen now is the Senate will tell the House that its plan cannot pass. House Republicans must now continue to hold the freaking line. They must not waiver. They must understand that now that their plan is passed and that it allows the debt ceiling to be raised, the House GOP's hand strengthens every day closer to August 2nd. And if this debacle goes past August 2nd, the House GOP is in charge as long as it holds the freaking line.

As for Mitch McConnell? In addition to his plan being a nonstarter, conservatives have gone to war with him personally. Here is a new ad that is about to launch against McConnell in a full on assault against his Pontius Pilate Plan.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. The Fuzzy Math from Gang of Six

As a rule of thumb, any idea coming from a gang is not a good one. This holds true in the real world; it is certainly true in the gangster world of the U.S. Senate. Members of the media are agog with glee over the supposed Gang of Six deal to cut the deficit by $3.7 trillion over 10 years. There is much hype over the fact that more than half the Senate attended the unveiling of the proposal, with many Republicans – including those in leadership – offering robust praise for it. Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA) is calling for a vote on the plan, even though most of the details don't exist.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. The President's Spending Cut Prediction was Only Off by 4,000 Billion Dollars.

Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina's 5th district, had strong words today for House Democrats demagoguing the Cut, Cap & Balance proposal from Republicans. Mulvaney correctly categorizes the Democrat's own proposal as Duck, Dodge & Dismantle.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Destroying Rupert Murdoch

In 1998, a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, Michael Gallagher, wrote an 18 page exposé on Chiquita Brands International and its corporate goings on in Central America. The report sourced phone calls leaked to the newspaper.

In fact, Gallagher had illegally tapped into Chiquita's phone system.

In 2010, NBC's parent company General Electric paid a $23.5 million settlement to the SEC on allegations that its subsidiaries bribed Iraqi officials to win UN contracts.

In neither case was Gannett, the parent of the Cincinnati Enquirer, or GE hauled before Congress with its CEO sworn in to answer questions about their conduct.

In neither case did media sensationalize what was going on.

But things are different with Rupert Murdoch. Why? Because he is amazingly successful and many other media properties unwilling or unable to compete would rather destroy him than innovate ahead of him.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Solving the NLRB Ambush Election and Card-Check Issues in One Fell Swoop

This week, on Monday and Tuesday, an "open meeting" occurred at President Obama's National Labor Relations Board over the NLRB's proposal to move toward ambush elections. Though largely a waste of time, since the union appointees running the NLRB have little intent to listen to the practical side of labor relations and will do the unions' bidding, there is a simple solution to resolving this entire matter that is straightforward, fair and apolitical.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. PCCC/Reddit cofounder Aaron Swartz indicted for mail fraud.

PCCC stands for "Progressive Change Campaign Committee," which was a group that rose to fame last year for its stellar record in taking progressive campaign cash and turning it into mocking, pathetically broken dreams; Reddit is of course the popular news source that none of you use because the liberals on it will downvote you to death if you try; Aaron Swartz is a co-founder of both, as well as the Executive Director of Demand Progress*; and 'mail fraud' is a shorter way of saying "A Harvard University fellow studying ethics has been accused of using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's computer network to steal nearly 5 million academic articles." Specifically, Swartz is being charged with hacking into and stealing from JSTOR – which is pretty much the source for online academic journal articles.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Destroying Rupert Murdoch

In 1998, a reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer, Michael Gallagher, wrote an 18 page exposé on Chiquita Brands International and its corporate goings on in Central America. The report sourced phone calls leaked to the newspaper.

In fact, Gallagher had illegally tapped into Chiquita's phone system.

In 2010, NBC's parent company General Electric paid a $23.5 million settlement to the SEC on allegations that its subsidiaries bribed Iraqi officials to win UN contracts.

In neither case was Gannett, the parent of the Cincinnati Enquirer, or GE hauled before Congress with its CEO sworn in to answer questions about their conduct.

In neither case did media sensationalize what was going on.

But things are different with Rupert Murdoch. Why? Because he is amazingly successful and many other media properties unwilling or unable to compete would rather destroy him than innovate ahead of him.

The story of what News of the World did is news and it is bad and it should be punished. But the level of piling on with no evidence against Murdoch or even his son, James, is astounding. They are being tried in the court of public opinion solely because of their last name.

But beyond that, critics in the United States are using the situation as an excuse to go after the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and other Murdoch properties. There are no allegations of wrong doings at those other properties, but their competitors just can't help themselves.

Rupert Murdoch is a genuine success story. He has pushed the news forward. And, oh by the way, his properties tend to hover around the center or right of center while most publications with dwindling readers *cough* New York Times *cough* continue their drift left and slow decline.

The witch hunt against Murdoch personally is political and professional payback from folks he has bested. It is not surprising, but conservatives should be willing to step up and defend News Corp and Murdoch. Their subsidiary newspaper behaved horribly. Those trying now to exact revenge on Murdoch are behaving just as horribly.

Uniting to Oppose McConnell

I have joined FreedomWorks, American Majority Action, Let Freedom Ring, and the Club For Growth in drafting a letter to Republicans in Congress opposing the McConnell Plan. Of particular note, considering who all is on board this letter, is this paragraph:

We will refrain from backing any Member of Congress or candidate for federal office, or a leadership position in a Republican Caucus, who supports the McConnell—Reid—Pelosi "Cut, Run, and Hide" plan, to the extent that our various legal structures  and rules allow.

I hope other conservative organizations will pay attention to this and sign on. Mitch McConnell is advancing his plan not to save the country or solve the debt crisis, but to position himself, individually, to be Senate Majority Leader.

The best way to stop McConnell's Plan to kick the can down the road is to end his career prospects.

You can read the whole letter here in PDF form.

Morning Briefing for July 19, 2011

RedState Morning Briefing

For July 19, 2011

Go to www.RedStateMB.com to get
the Morning Briefing every morning at no charge.

Friends, I'd set up a call center today to get you to call your Congressmen to support Cut, Cap, and Balance and also to oppose the McConnell Pontius Pilate Act, but the guys at Heritage Action for America are outdoing themselves. They stand with us in the fight for freedom and on these issues.

Go sign up for Heritage Action's emails and they'll also put you on the path to defeating McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act. Sign up today and help stop the big spenders in Washington.

—Erick

1. If You Support Mitch McConnell, We Don't Support You

2. Now We See It All. Mitch McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act Is Cover for Tax Increases

3. Seven Reasons Why August 2 Isn't the End of the World

4. Pop Goes the Weasel

5. Palin Again.

6. Republicans Who Support Mitch McConnell's Plan Should Be Deeply Worried by a New CBS News Poll

———————————————————————-

1. If You Support Mitch McConnell, We Don't Support You

I am instituting a new policy here at RedState. In the future, as we support candidates for the U.S. Senate in Republican Primaries, we will not support any candidate who goes on the record supporting Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader.

That does not preclude them from voting for McConnell once they get there if there are no better options. But when looking to endorse candidates, those who express a willingness to support someone else first will certainly be given more attention.

Why?

Well, it is not just that Mitch McConnell is yet again screwing both the Republican Party and the country. He has a history of playing things to his advantage, even when it means hurting the country and his own political party.

If Mitch McConnell will not turn from his history of failed leadership, we must encourage those running for the Senate to turn from McConnell.

Let's review the tape, shall we?

Please click here for the rest of the post.

2. Now We See It All. Mitch McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act Is Cover for Tax Increases

Well, well, well. As Monday's news cycle gets into full gear, we're starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases.

It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and when the legislation's very foreseeable outcomes appeared, the GOP got the blame for the disaster the law wrought on the public school system.

And now we're going to get a new deficit commission that is actually just going to raise taxes.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

3. Seven Reasons Why August 2 Isn't the End of the World

Washington is currently borrowing about 43 cents out of every dollar it spends, and is close to maxing out its credit limit.

Current law says Uncle Sam cannot borrow more than $14.3 trillion. A few months back, the Obama Administration demanded that Congress increase the national credit line by $2.5 trillion by May 16, or else, it warned, the United States would default on its debts, causing an "economic Armageddon." ($2.5 trillion is just enough to aver the need for another debt hike until after the 2012 election.)

When May 16 came and went, and nothing happened, the Obama team set a new "Armageddon" date: August 2.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

4. Pop Goes the Weasel

Those of you who have read my pieces in the past know that I was pushing for congressional Republicans to fight for deficit reduction on the continuing resolution. This didn't happen.

Instead, explained the GOP, (1) it would be so much easier and risk-free to use the debt limit, and (2) besides, they were about to unveil a budget which would be widely applauded because (A) the press loves Paul Ryan and (B) no one could attack Medicare changes which left benefits intact for everyone over 55.

Uh…

Please click here for the rest of the post.

5. Palin Again.

CNN did a brilliant job covering the launch of the Sarah Palin documentary, "The Undefeated." As CNN notes,

"The film's distributor, ARC Entertainment, said the film averaged $5,000 per screen Friday and Saturday night, with sold-out screenings at several locations. ARC Entertainment said in a statement "… with the strong initial showing, the film is going to a wider release footprint later this month.""

In fact, the Palin film is dazzling people by just how well a film of its type is doing with no traditional promotion. Even movies like The Passion of the Christ, which largely relied on alternative publicity mechanisms, still had a great deal of traditional promotion, studio support, and media buzz.

"The Undefeated" is different. In addition to being a political documentary, it is not backed by a studio, does not have major media buzz, and continues to sell out in showings around the country.

More impressive, there are continued reports of people who didn't care for Palin or had no opinion of her (the few that remain) who came out impressed with her in the movie.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

6. Republicans Who Support Mitch McConnell's Plan Should Be Deeply Worried by a New CBS News Poll

Republicans backing Mitch McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act should be deeply, deeply worried by a new CBS News Poll. The poll shows the public is very unhappy with the way things are going in Washington.

In fact, 51% of Republicans and 73% of Independents disapprove of the way the GOP is handling the debt ceiling. "But wait," you say. "That must mean they want to go with the Democrats."

Except for a few things we can interpret from this poll consistent with other polls.

Please click here for the rest of the post.

Palin Again.

CNN did a brilliant job covering the launch of the Sarah Palin documentary, "The Undefeated." As CNN notes,

The film's distributor, ARC Entertainment, said the film averaged $5,000 per screen Friday and Saturday night, with sold-out screenings at several locations. ARC Entertainment said in a statement "… with the strong initial showing, the film is going to a wider release footprint later this month."

In fact, the Palin film is dazzling people by just how well a film of its type is doing with no traditional promotion. Even movies like The Passion of the Christ, which largely relied on alternative publicity mechanisms, still had a great deal of traditional promotion, studio support, and media buzz.

"The Undefeated" is different. In addition to being a political documentary, it is not backed by a studio, does not have major media buzz, and continues to sell out in showings around the country.

More impressive, there are continued reports of people who didn't care for Palin or had no opinion of her (the few that remain) who came out impressed with her in the movie.

The movie is going to be expanding its presence around the country. It'll be interesting to see just how much of a demand it can keep.

If You Support Mitch McConnell, We Don't Support You

I am instituting a new policy here at RedState. In the future, as we support candidates for the U.S. Senate in Republican Primaries, we will not support any candidate who goes on the record supporting Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican Leader.

That does not preclude them from voting for McConnell once they get there if there are no better options. But when looking to endorse candidates, those who express a willingness to support someone else first will certainly be given more attention.

Why?

Well, it is not just that Mitch McConnell is yet again screwing both the Republican Party and the country. He has a history of playing things to his advantage, even when it means hurting the country and his own political party.

If Mitch McConnell will not turn from his history of failed leadership, we must encourage those running for the Senate to turn from McConnell.

Let's review the tape, shall we?From my 2009 post on McConnell, Larry Pratt of Gun Owners of America pointed these things out:

Senator Mitch McConnell has lost almost every major legislative battle he has managed.

In the early '90?s, he managed opposition to the Motor Voter Bill, which encouraged groups like ACORN to register fraudulent voters. McConnell refused to filibuster the motion to take up the bill — something that would have served as a key delaying tactic.

Moreover, Sen. McConnell sat by idly as sponsors of the bill played "let's make a deal" — offering amendment after amendment to buy off opponents of the bill. A bill, which initially had more than enough votes to kill it, ended up passing because of McConnell's ill-advised strategy.

A decade later, McConnell managed the opposition to the Incumbent Protection Act a/k/a the Bipartisan Campaign Finance Reform Act to take away the free speech rights of Second Amendment groups during heated elections. McConnell threatened and cajoled to prevent Republican senators from offering "killer amendments" to the bill. McConnell explained that he would bring a lawsuit to overturn it in the courts.

Well, after the bill's passage, McConnell did bring a lawsuit. He lost.

Senate Minority Leader McConnell could once again ended up losing the historic battle against ObamaCare legislation.

Rather than delaying this legislation and allowing the American people the time to continue building opposition against socialized health care, Senator McConnell was all-to-willing to speed the bill along.

Consider what one Republican Senator admitted on the Bill Bennett radio show. When asked what was the Republican strategy for defeating ObamaCare, Senator John Kyl responded: "Actually, I think we can be fairly upfront about it. Our strategy is not actually to delay [but] to have a lot of good amendments and highlight the problems in the bill. It is not our strategy to somehow slow things down."

McConnell never pulled out all the stops that he could have.

And now we fast forward to McConnell's "Pontius Pilate Act." He wants to give Barack Obama the power to raise the debt limit to over $16 trillion with no obstruction. He, the man who opposed an earmarks ban because it ceded power to the executive given to Congress by the constitution, wants to give Obama power reserved to Congress in the Constitution to raise the debt ceiling.

Mitch McConnell is not a leader. He is a failure. We should stop rewarding failure.

Republicans Who Support Mitch McConnell's Plan Should Be Deeply Worried by a New CBS News Poll

Republicans backing Mitch McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act should be deeply, deeply worried by a new CBS News Poll. The poll shows the public is very unhappy with the way things are going in Washington.

In fact, 51% of Republicans and 73% of Independents disapprove of the way the GOP is handling the debt ceiling. "But wait," you say. "That must mean they want to go with the Democrats."

Except for a few things we can interpret from this poll consistent with other polls.First, 66% of Independents and 81% of Republicans also disapprove of the way Democrats are handing the debt ceiling.

Second, we know a majority of voters, including a significant number of independents, do not want the debt ceiling raised at all.

Third, this poll was conducted of all adults, not registered or likely voters. That means that should they be narrowed down, you'd find the numbers going even more against the Democrats.

Fourth, this poll was taken on the weekend, which typically lowers the number of conservatives polled.

Fifth, if we are to read this poll as consistent with other polling out there right now, we can see a majority of Republicans and a strong majority of independents want Washington to actually fight on this issue — not kick the can down the road again as Mitch McConnell would like.

Again, if the GOP isn't careful, it could sow the seeds of its own destruction.

Now We See It All. Mitch McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act Is Cover for Tax Increases

Well, well, well. As Monday's news cycle gets into full gear, we're starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases.

It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and when the legislation's very foreseeable outcomes appeared, the GOP got the blame for the disaster the law wrought on the public school system.

And now we're going to get a new deficit commission that is actually just going to raise taxes.

How do we know they are going to raise taxes?

Well, whatever the commission comes up with, it's going to be deemed filibuster proof — only a simple majority will have to vote for it in the Senate. Oh, and it will not be subject to any amendments in its recommendations.

With Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) already on board tax increases and with Tom Coburn proposing $1 trillion in tax increases today, we see where this is headed. But wait . . . there's more.Keith Hennessey has a breakdown of the budget negotiations, much of which will be incorporated into McConnell's Pontius Pilate Act.

How so?

Well, most media reports are now saying that the Pontius Pilate Act will include the $1.5 trillion in cuts from the Biden led negotiations. What are those cuts? You can read Keith Hennessey yourself or just read this summarization from a friend of mine:

Only in Washington are spending increases called spending cuts. They will actually grow discretionary spending at 2/3 rate of inflation (spending increase) but call it $1 trillion in cuts below the baseline of full inflation. About $200 billion come from cuts to health care providers, something we stop every year with the doc fix — not sure how they'll keep this promise. And another $165 billion come from increases in government fees (some call tax increases), not spending cuts. So at the end of the day, we are left with a $2 billion FY2012 cut, and $55 billion in promised actual spending cuts through yet unspecified policy changes. A whopping $57 billion in cuts over a decade, or less than $6 billion a year.

Oh the games they play.